Dawn's Story
by Angelrose
Summary: What happened after Buffy died...maybe a little off, but hey, I tried.


My name is Dawn. Dawn Summers. I used to be the sister of Buffy Summers until...until...she had to kill herself to save the world for one last time. I loved my sister. I still do, actually. But sometimes...I used to hate her. I know that seems so mean, but I did. She always treated me like I was a child. For goodness' sake, I'm 15 years old. I'm a child no more. Especially after what happened that one night that Glory got me.  
You see, I was the key. Maybe I still am, I don't know. But I was the key to opening up all the dimensions and making everything chaos. No one would be able to tell what was real and what wasn't. It actually happened for a couple of minutes after my blood opened up the dimensions. Buffy saved me, though. She saved us all. I thought I would have to die to make everything go back to normal. But then Buffy told me that we were one, and thus, she could die instead of me.   
Those last few moments we had together I'll treasure forever. I'll never forget the look of love on her face as she told me to tell everyone goodbye for her. And then she jumped. Jumped into that big hole of nothingness where my drop of blood had opened up the other dimensions. I felt numb. I couldn't even feel the pain of the cuts on my body or my bruises that had seemed to hurt so much earlier. Then it came; a wave of pain all over my body. "Buffy!" I shouted. It was too late, of course. She was already dead. The world was saved.  
I made my way down the winding staircase of the tower the insane people had built just for the ceremony. Everybody was down there already, looking at the dead body of my sister, Buffy Anne Summers. She was lying on a pile of wood, so still, so lifeless. Tears ran down my cheeks. Spike was openly sobbing. Xander was carrying Anya, for what reason, I didn't know. Willow was hugging Tara as if she'd never let go. Giles just stood there, looking at his beloved student. It broke my heart seeing them all like that.   
Everybody in Sunnydale came to the funeral. I mean, everyone. I didn't know so many people knew my sister. But I guess they did, since she had saved the world a couple times. She even got some sort of award in high school for protecting everyone. I couldn't stop sobbing, not even when my dad came and hugged me. Everyone hugged me and felt sorry for me. I didn't feel any better though.  
The next morning, it dawned on me: What was I going to do? I was all alone. My mother and sister were dead. My dad...my dad could take me. But I didn't want to leave my hometown. All my friends...I needed them. So very very much. I was staying at Willow's for the night and the day after. "Willow..." I called out. "Yeah, Dawn?" she said, her eyes red from crying. "I want to stay with you. Here." I burst into tears. "Oh, Dawny...I don't know if we could do that." "Please?" I pleaded. "I'll talk to your dad," she said.  
Later that afternoon, while I was sitting on Willow's bed, looking at her books of witchcraft, she came into the room. "Dawny..." she said. "Yeah?" I said expectantly. Was that a good look or a bad look on her face? I couldn't tell. "Your dad said you could stay with us..." I was already hugging her before she could finish her sentence. "...On one condition," she continued. "What?" I asked. "As long as you keep in contact with him." "Oh, I will, I will!" I shouted, the happiest I'd been since...y'know.  
Those first few days were great. We got along fine and never fought over anything. It was the coolest. But I felt guilty...about being happy when Buffy was...dead. It's all right, she'd want you to be happy...I consoled myself. Yeah, I guess you're right. I said to myself. So I was happy.  
But then we started getting annoyed with each other. I mean, really annoyed. It was like, "Dawn, if you don't get out of the bathroom right now, I'll use my witchcraft to break the door down!" Heck, I was scared. I knew Willow wouldn't do it, but still...I didn't want to risk it. So then I tried being good. And being nice and obedient, too. It didn't work, though. We were still annoying each other with no way to stop it. And I still felt guilty about being happy when Buffy was dead. I kept reminding myself she'd want it to be that way, but it didn't help much.   
One day, I decided to confront Willow about it. "Willow...?" "Yeah, Dawn?" "Would Buffy feel...y'know...sad that we're being happy? So soon after her death?" "Oh, of course not, Dawny!" She hugged me. I felt a lot better, since Willow probably knew my sister a little better than I did...or not. I wouldn't say that we lived happily ever after, but hey, I was alive. I was happy. And my sister could finally rest in peace with my mother and everyone else who had fallen victim to the evil of the world.  



End file.
